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MUCH S. LUC ARE, 






i. \ . .: ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UJTITEO STATES. 



Tp III !■: KD1T0R iik THE SOUTHERN I ,ITi:l!A II V MkSSENOBR 

I observe, with sincere satisfaction, in the la I 
number of the Messenger, that you invite I'M- its 
uns a tilting notice of the character of the 
distinguished man, whose recent loss, under cir- 
cumstances alike imposing and affecting, the nation 
has been called to deplore. It is a homage most 
appropriately due from the patriotic literature of 
niiiry to the memory of one, who, always a 
zealous worshipper at its shrine, lias done so inach 
to assert its dignity anil illustrate its usefulness, in 
connection with the highest pursuits of social and 
active life. The theme demands a pen, which has 
other qualifications than those which an ardent and 

devoted friendship ah can supply, t6 do justice 

to it in all the breadth and elevation of its moral 
dignity and grandeur. But there arc some reflec- 
tion-, growing out of the recent death of 11. ^ 
Legate and the national mourning which has fal- 
lowed it, that even an untutored hand, under 4ho 
instinctive guidance of the heart, may he excused 
for attempting to present. 

The tirst observation, which occurs to the mind 
in contemplating this lamented event, is one whfch, 
out of the very depth of the public nillictkui it*fla, 
occasioned, brings forth solid enconr.i JkicfTt to 
every sincere and honest patriot, and TsdWTl of in- 
structive lessons'to the generous and aspiring youth 
of the country. All must have remarked, and 
many not without surprise, the loud and universal 
m of mingled sorrow and praise which fol-, 
lowed to the tomb one, whose halms and tastes' 
through life, cherished the privacy of studious re- | r 



pus and enlightened people, suddenly 

hurst forth in one g( n.-i .il symphony of lamenta- 
tion and exalted praise. 

Let all who i in the service of their coun- 

try, with elevated views and console 
of usefulness, take courage from this example. 
Sooner or latet , the fi <■. ird of public appro 
and gratitude will infallibly crowi career, 

b hioh rests its solid and impei i liable titles on " the 
pursuit of noble ends by noble means." Let no 
feverish anxiety, for a spurious and il< 
riety, lead the aspirant for public esteem to put his 
trust in specious arts, superficial attainments, or 
accommodating suppleness, as available substitutes 
for that laborious and vigorous training and 
Cation of the faculties, mural and intellectual, by 
which only a genuine and enduring popularity can 
!«■ won. Let him equip himself lor the stern con- 
flicts of public duty from the armory of knowledge 
and virtue, where only weapons of the true tem- 
per for such a warfare are to be found, and not go 
forth to battle in the mimic accoutrements of the 
toy-shop. Let him not indulge an undue solicitude 
to obtain popularity. Let Ins aim rather be to 4c- 
scrve it. Let him exhibit in superior knowledge 
and acquirements — in the dil mtiring cul- 

tivation of all the capacities of a high public use- 
fulness—in noble and elevati d principles of action, 
the authentic credentials of bis mission to serve his 
country ; and his country will, in time, call fur and 
honor him, or, if .-be does not, the lo ill be ber'Sj 



ttrement — who, far from courting, shunned the pub- 
lic gaze, except when an imperious sense of duty 
brought him before it— who never cultivated popu 
larity, however be esteemed it, when the reward Won, but who ;; 
of virtuous actions— and who, from his inmcft# aspirations, fro 
heart, despised, as, in his lofty and I>»r/f7ng elo- 
nci h was ever wont to brand, (•ho unworthy 
arts of the demagogue, The man thus honored 
and lamented in bis death was neither thp favorit 
nor the nursling of party. Hehad,ind 
offended the spirit of party, on more t 



cSiWrj 
'uinff-ie 



ravery 

ne oc 



easion, by the md< pi ndence and the coilcientiotislfuSsrfbition, by portrayini 
integrity with which be pursued the eonviflpns ofiGluplate •anity" and "fruit 
In- own judgment, where be believed the interests 
of his country ai -lake. As a consequence «of 
inflexibility of principle, as well as of his 
retiring and unobtrusive personal habits, b 
while living, bad not been attended, in a 



idter 
a dc 



reer, 



«The example addresses itself, with equal em- 
phasis, to the gifted youth of the country, who 
jiave not yet enli red on the arena of active exer- 
irc looking forward, with generous 
from the silence and i of their 

apcademic retreats'? to the part the] ire h 
to act up* the busy stage of life. " The des] 

ntimentality of the poetic muse, or rather 
dangerous soi/riisiry of that in, 
, the. naturavindolence of man, is not un fre- 
quently invoked to discourage a manly and stl 
us*4rfbition, by portraying, in fun rs, the 

■ranity an.; fruitlessness of all hi 
pursuits. We an so/netimes asked, m the nl is- 
ai'Uit'd lajguage of unreasoning elegy, why " scorn 
delights anil live laborious days,'' in" the vain pur, 
suit of faf c ; seeing tjiat, 

— f- "tl)' 1 I lii ■ a i Ion, when we hope to find, 

An.] tb/nk lo bin-: 

Uomfefhe Mmd Fury with abho 

And slits the thin-spun lite." 



Corresponding to bis rare endowments, with all 

external evidences of public consideration, 

n his friends, who, in the unreserved freedom 

ol private intercourse, bad been able, to sound the 

merite 1°'' Su >"' I 1" : ""' r ' v 'T' L '*' ^ ^ H . , But ,h ° ° nl >' fWne ' Which a true a »' l,ilio » « <*Pa- 
mtrned. feuch, however, is the winning power of ble of coveting, is one which -the abhorred shears 

v nine and talents, even when separated from the; of the Mini Furv" have no power to des ov It 

°XS ;*<f sso " es . °< Party popularity, tint he survives the stroke of Fate, and nourishes beyond 

w.s daily , hoiigh stleuty growmg u, the sober .behave/ It is that amaranthine plant which^he 

eseemandconhdenc^ot the cc tr# and when, sajne immartal poet tells us, "lives, and spreads 

tin 1 f| b! ; l[r '' 5 '. , m " "-i^'-I^ven^audisbutitJan.napated uag S 
uselulness, the national a.precia- 1 on the dee Is of men. It is that fame u bub alone 

_ t, and which he achieved— with what 
thj: hearts ! glorious 'rjnd enviable success, let the according 



dormant though all the while w 



V 



• 



w 



H. S. Legare, late Attorney General of the United Stales. 



praises and regrets of a whole nation testify. 
What other fame is worthy to engage, for a mo- 
ment, the concern of a being, whose life on earth, 
when longest, is limited to a span ! To live in the 
hearts and memory of our countrymen, when we 
ourselves shall have passed from among them, is, 
on the other hand, an object in harmony with the 
highest aspirations of the human soul, and fitted to 
elicit the noblest faculties of our nature. In the 
distinguished and now hallowed example before us, 
let the enlightened and patriotic young men of 
America read, for their encouragement, amid the 
daily and nightly toils of their probationary disci- 
pline, the pledge of their own high destinies, if, by 
the same means, they shall devote themselves to 
the same noble ends. 

The extraordinary powers and varied attainments 
of the late Attorney General were the product of 
early and incessant culture, and of untiring indus- 
try and labor. How else could such rare excel- 
lence, in so many different departments of human 
talent and knowledge, have been acquired ; for he 
was primus inter pares in all — a finished scholar, 
a consummate orator, a profound lawyer, an able 
and accomplished statesman. No felicity of ge- 
nius, however great, no fecundity of nature, how- 
ever teeming, could account for such intellectual 
riches, without the creative energies of constant 
and unwearied diligence ; for it is a truth, as appli- 
cable to the philosophy of mind as to the science 
of political economy, that labor is the true and 
only source of either mental, or material wealth. 
No paltry vanity of natural endowments ever pre- 
vented Mr. Legare from bearing earnest and in- 
structive testimony, in his discourse, as be exem- 
plified so strikingly in his practice, the truth and 
value of this grand arcanum of all sound supe- 
r. >iiy and success. 
f Having enjoyed, in early youth, the advantages 
of a finished education in the best schools of his 
own country and of Europe, he continued, through 
all the avocations and active employments of his 
future life, the same habits of diligent and enthu- 
siastic study by which he established, from the 
first, a marked preeminence among his companions. 
He was so smitten with a sympathetic apprecia- 
tion of the great Roman orator's noble panegyric 
of letters, that he literally fulfilled in his daily 
habits, (without any such purpose, certainly, as 
that of mere pedantic conformity), the picture of 
their attractions so graphically delineated in the 
lat'er part of that celebrated passage — -Here Sta- 
dia. $-c, delectant domi, mm impediunlgforis,per- 
noctant nobiscum,peregrinanlur, rusticantur. His 
books were his inseparable companions, whether 
at home, or abroad — they passed the "night with 
him, they travelled with him, they accompanied 
him in his occasional rural retreats. A jealous 
economist of time, and particularly attentive to 
husband those odd fragments of leisure, which 
irregularly intervene in the routine ot daily employ- 
ment, and which by most persons are thrown away 
as useless, he was more fortunate even than the 
ancient philosopher, who reproached himself with 
the loss of one day in the course of a long life. 
Legare never lost an hour, for however small the 
interval of time which fell upon bis hands, unoc- 
■i by the necessary demands of business, or 
the cherished society of a chosen circle of friends, 
it vas never wasted. A book, a pen, or a train of 



thought to be resumed, was always at hand to 
absorb and employ it usefully ; for so perfect was 
the discipline of mind he had established, through 
long habits of industry and study, that he turned 
his attention, at will, to whatever subject seemed, 
at the moment, fittest to engage it. 

As a scholar, he stood without a rival among the 
public men of America of his day, and if, even in 
that class of learned men who make the cultiva- 
tion and pursuit of letters the sole business of their 
lives, he ha - d any superior in scholarship, it would 
be difficult to say who that superior was. His 
acquaintance with the great writers of antiquity, 
the master minds- of Greece and Rome, was inti- 
mate, thorough and familiar — placing at his ready 
and perfect command all those hidden treasures of 
thought, philosophy and wisdom, all those exqui- 
site models of taste, eloquence and power, which 
lie enshrined in their immortal works. In the lan- 
guages and literature of modern Europe he was 
perfectly at home. He not only read, but wrote 
and spoke the languages of France and Germany 
with the ease and elegance of a native, and was 
profoundly versed in their history and literature. 
He had explored, with particular industry and suc- 
cess, the rich mines of learning and historical dis- 
covery, (so to speak), which the acute and recon- 
dite researches of modern German writers have 
opened, and enlarged his own accumulated stores 
by^he super-addition of the fruits of their valuable 
labors. A With all this affluence of intellectual 
wealth.^ie .made no ostentatious display of his 
acquisitions. They were assimilated into the solid 
nutriment of his own mind, and their effect was 
seen rather in the enlarged scope and vigor of his 
conceptions, than in any exhibition of mere learning. 

As a speaker and writer, the style of his elo- 
quence was ornate and rich. But, like thegorgeous- 
ness of Burke, this was the unbidden effect of the 
irrepressible exuberance of his genius. No one 
despised more than he did the mere glitter of words, 
or held in lighter esteem the studied arts of the 
professed rhetorician. Whatever was the eleva- 
tion and richness of his diction, it was uniformly 
supported by a corresponding richness and eleva- 
tion of thought. The stream of his eloquence was 
fed from copious and inexhaustible fountains, and 
its majestic current fertilized and fructified, even 
when lt^nundated its banks. 

His character and abilities, as a profound and 
accomplished jurist, have been already given to the 
world under the seal of the highest authority. To 
the question, was he an eminent lawyer, Judge 
Story, in his beautiful and touching address to the 
Law School at Harvard, while the funeral bells of 
Boston* were yet tolling the knell of his departed 
spirit, answered emphatically and unhesitatingly — 
■■ no man was more so." And certainly, if a pro- 
found acquaintance with the most renowned systems 
of ancient and modern law, with the common law 
of England, the civil law of Rome, the codes of 
France and Germany, added to a familiar know- 
ledge of the laws and constitutions of our own 
country and a thorough indoctrination in the prin- 
ciples of universal jurisprudence, can make an 
able and accomplished lawyer, Legare was such. 
All this breadth and scope of knowledge, however 
superfluous it may be deenjf?rFfor the lawyer who, 
to use the winds of Cicero, is nothing more than 
i gul nis i /in,/, mi cautus, et aculus prmco aclionum, 



H. S. Legare, laic Attorney General of the United States, 



cantor formularum, auceps syilabarum,vtna neces- 
sary to fill Mr. Legare's conception of tlie cha- 
racter of a great lawyer, worthy of the name, and 
of a calling which boasts its rank among the 
learned professions. One of the great secrets of 
his superiority was to place ever before him the 
highest standards of excellence, in every depart- 
ment, as the beau, ideal, at least, which a true and 
lofty ambition should aim to approximate as near 
as possible, if not able fully to attain. His idea of 
the nobleness and grandeur of the law, in its true 
dignity, was that which Bolingbroke has so justly 
and eloquently portrayed, and his impersonations 
of that idea were the Bacons, the Clarendons, the 
Somers, the Mansfield's of England,— the Mar- 
eballs, the Pinkneys of America.* 

The narrow and unworthy prejudice against 
learning, as incompatible with professional emi- 
nence, which has been so properly rebuked by Judge 
Story, sometimes ventured to question the claims 
of Air. Legare to the character of an able lawyer. 
on the very ground of his acknowledged pre-emi- 
nence in the attainments of elegant literature. 
The same Gothic prejudice, we learn from con- 
temporary memorials, boldly called in question the 
legal abilities of Lord Mansfield, and was humor- 
ously satirized, at the time, in some lines of Pope, 
in which the poet represents two heavy Serjeants of 
the Temple, " who deemed each other oracles of 
law," exulting, with a grave self-complacency, in 
the fancied profoundness of their own legal attain- 
ments, while 

" Each shook his head at Murray as a wit." 

And yet this Murray rapidly rose through all the 
gradations of professional eminence, to the Chief 
Justiceship of the King's Bench, in which court 
he presided, with unrivalled lustre and ability, for 
thirty-two years, having been thrice offered also 
the great seal of Lord Chancellor; and such was 
the almost miraculous infallibility displayed by him 
as a Judge, that, out of the numerous decisions 
rendered by him during that long period of time, 
but two or three of his judgments were ever re- 
versed, and about an equal number of instances 
occurred in which any of his brethren differed in 
opinion from him. With such an illustrious exam- 
ple before us, we shall be slow to believe that the 
superior literary accomplishments of Mr. Legare 

* In his letters on the study of History addressed to Lord 
Combnry, the great grand3on of the Earl of Clarendon, 
Bolingbroke, after speaking of the profession of the law as 
" in its nature the noblest and most beneficial to mankind, 
in Us abase anrl debasement, the most sordid and the most 
pernicious," makes the following remarks, admirable alike 
for their eloquence and truth. "There have been lawyi rs 
that were orators, philosophers, historians, — there have 
been Bacons and Clarendons, my lord. There will be none 
such any more, till, in some better age, true ambition, or 
the love ot fame, prevails over avarice, and till mm find 
leisure, and encouragement to prepare for the 

exercise ot this profession by climbing up to the'va igi 
ground,' so my Lord Bacon calls it, ol science; instead 
of grovelling all their lives below in a mean, lint gainful 
application to all the little arts of chicane. 'Till this Lap- 
pen, the profession of the law will scarce deserve to be 
ranked among the Learned professions; ami whenever ii 
happens, one of the ■ vantage grounds,' to which men must 
climb, is metaphysical, and the other historical knowledge." 



were likely to prove a hindrance to him in the path 
of professional reputation and success, or t" 
vent him from fulfilling his destiny, in becoming one 
of I he chiefest glories of the American bar. 

As a Statesman, the merits and talents of Mr. 
Legare were of the very first order. If early 
conceived the noble ambition of usefully SI fvitl 
his country, not to gratify a selfish vanity, or to 
promote any private or personal end, hut from a 
true filial devotion to her glory, and from a gene- 
rous and magnanimous desire to hear his part in 
upholding the honor and success of her model Insti- 
lutious. His whole training was one of admirable 
preparation for this high career. There is no 
branch of knowledge proper to an American Stati - 
man in which be was not a profound adept. He 
had thoroughly studied the genius of popular govern- 
ment, as well in its essential principles, as in all 
its great historical examples. With what sagacious 
and discriminating research he explored the his- 
tory and institutions of the master states of anti- 
quity, the Republics of Greece and Rome, he ha3 
given to the world proud and enduring evidence, in 
writings which will long survive him, and winch 
posterity, assuredly, " will not willingly let die."* 
He had traced and meditated, with equal diligence 
and care, the progress of civil and political liberty 
among our British ancestors; and all those great 
social and political revolutions, which have chai 
the face of modern Europe, were alike familiar to 
his mind, in their causes, incidents and results, and 
with all the monitory and instructive lessons with 
which they are so richly fraught. With these pre- 
paratory lights, he made our own peculiar, happy 
and complicated system of popular and federative 
government, the subject of his profoundest study, 
:n id was as deeply imbued with its spirit, as lie was 
thoroughly initiated in its principles, and faun 
conversant with its constitutional action. To these 
primary qualifications of all true American States- 
manship, he added that enlarged knowledge of the 
sound principles of political economy, and of the 
fundamental laws of trade, currency, revenue and 
finance, which are indispensable guides to en- 
lightened practical legislation. With the public 
law of nations, which regulates, in peace and in 
war, the mutual rights and duties of civilized and 
independent states, the diplomatic position he h.nl 
filled abroad with so much honor to his country ai 1 
to himself, no less than his early studies, made him 
intimately acquainted; and to crown all these civic 
accomplishments and advantages, he had en 
the precious opportunity of observation and expe- 
rience amid the largest scenes of human affairs, in 
foreign countries, as well as his own. 

When Mr. Legare, therefore, came into Con- 
gress, he came clad in complete armor. The 
speeches and reports made by him, during the brief 
period of his service there, show with what full- 
ness of information and knowledge lie came into 
the discussion of every question in which he took 
a part — enriching it with the widest amplitude of 
illustration— judging it with the utmost maturity of 

Ih *ht and wisdom — while adorning it with the 

graces of a finished and captivating eloquence. 

*Two most able and learned tracts, one on the Consti- 

tutional History of Greece and the Democracy of Athens, 

the other on the origin, History and Influence of Roman 

lalion, are here more particularly alluded to. / 



H. S. Legare, late Attorney General of the United States. 



But bis career there was permitted to continue two 
years only, leaving the nation to regret the prema- 
ture loss, from its legislative councils, of the rare 
and eminent abilities and statesmanship, of which, 
in so short a time, he gave such abundant and une- 
quivocal proofs. 

The splendor of his genius accompanied him in 
his ostracism, and illuminated the obscurity of his 
retreat. He was soon called back, to take a pro- 
minent position in the Executive Government of 
the country, for which he was pointed out solely 
by the consideration of his superior fitness ; for he 
never sought office, and his friends deemed too 
highly of him to believe that any office was capa- 
ble of adding to the intrinsic dignity of his talents 
and worth. This new sphere of duty elicited new 
proofs of his varied powers and attainments, and 
developed comprehensive faculties of public useful- 
ness, co-extensive with and equal to every demand 
of the public service. Besides the able and dis- 
tinguished discharge of the duties which more par- 
ticularly belong to the post he occupied, which 
received the united testimony of the most enligh- 
tened judges and of the general voice of the country, 
he brought to the aid of the government, on every 
great question of national interest, a fund of know- 
ledge, a clearness of views and a promptitude of 
decision, which could not fail to be sensibly felt and 
appreciated. When unexpectedly called to fill the 
leading Executive Department, it is not unreason- 
able to suppose, and it is hoped the suggestion may 
be made without offence, that none of the able and 
distinguished men who have filled it, upon their 
first introduction to its duties, probably ever felt 
m ire at home among its high and imposing con- 
cerns, than did Mr. Legare — excepting always, 
with the profound reverence so especially their 
due, those great minds of revolutionary schooling, 
which grew up along with the thorny and difficult 
questions of our international relations, and which 
laid deep the foundations of our foreign policy and 
public law. The records of the State Department, 
during the short, but busy month his life was spared 
to stamp the lasting mark of his genius, industry 
and abilities upon them, will show whether this 
suggestion may not. find in its verisimilitude some 
excuse for its temerity. 

It. is not a little remarkable that Mr. Legare was 
doomed sometimes to encounter the same scepti- 
cism, in regard to his practical abilities as a States- 
which had thrown unavailing doubts on the 
solidity of his legal attainments, and from ihe same 
, The extraordinary polish and brightness 
of his weapons, however massive, seemed to raise 
suspicions of their strength and durability. The 
very superiority of his qualifications inspired dis- 
trust of their reality. So the great Roman States- 
man and orator, whom Mr. Legare especially re- 
sembled, in the broad and elaborate foundation of 
general learning on which he raised the superstruc- 



ture of his political talents and usefulness, was 
pointed at, when he made his appearance on the 
public stage, as the Greek and the Scholar. Yet 
this did not prevent him from exhibiting such con- 
summate proofs of practical statesmanship, in cir- 
cumstances of the most complicated difficulty and 
danger, as no man ever surpassed, and which pro- 
cured for him, by a solemn decree of the nations! 
gratitude, the title of the Father of his country. 
But eminent as were the intellectual powers and 
accomplishments of Mr. Legare, they formed by 
no means, the most distinguished part of his public 
character. It was the high moral tone so visibly 
impressed on all his actions, his disdain of every 
thing low and mean and narrow, the commanding, 
elevation of his principles and views, the lofty 
spirit of personal honor, the magnanimous courage' 
and self-reliance of conscious virtue, which made 
him truly great. What the greatest of Irish oraj 
tors so impressively said of the first of British 
Statesmen, with suitable modifications, may b« 
justly said of Legare. "No state chicanery, nc 
narrow system of vicious politics, no idle contesi 
for mere party victories, regardless of principle, 
ever sunk him to the vulgar level of the so callec 
great ;" but resolute, conscientious, undaunted ant 
unseduced, his object was ever the glory, liberty 
and happiness of his country — his means wen 
truth, integrity, patriotism and honor. 

A character, thus marked by the prominent an< 

dazzling traits which enlist public admiration ant 

applause, was set off by all those milder, but no 

less winning qualities which inspire affection an< 

esteem, and which give to human life its highes 

charm and sweetest attraction. He was the deligh 

and the ornament of the society he frequented 

The spirit and brilliancy of his conversation weri 

unremitting and unsurpassed. His manners wen 

of the most perfect tone, uniting the dignity am 

elegance of the gentleman with the cordiality am 

playfulness of the companion and the friend. II 

lii! cultivated, with no small success, a taste fo 

the fine arts, whose happy influence it is to hu 

nianize and soften, without enervating the charac 

ter. But above all, his heart was warm, noble 

generous and true, despising every form of indi 

rection and meanness, — embracing, with the stron. 

affinities of a kindred spirit, whatever was loft 

in principle, magnanimous in sentiment, or virtnou 

in action — entering, with the warm and unrestrame 

effusions of childhood itself, into the lovely sj mpi 

lliics and affections of domestic life, — and in frienc 

>hip ever firm, faithful and devoted. But remini; 

cences, such as these, are too intimately connecte 

with a yet bleeding sense of an irreparable person: 

loss, to be obtruded upon the public eye; and th 

sacred curtain, which the hand of an awful an 

mysterious providence has let fall upon the chc 

rished hopes and affections of the heart, must r« 

main farther undisturbed. R,. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
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